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2 Turn Contacts into Contracts. This guide is based on the popular WebDesign.com course by the same title: How to Turn Contacts into Contracts. It also includes the bonus resource Top 10 Ways to Find New Clients. Turning contacts into contracts is what makes business happen. Itʼs just one part of your overall marketing for your web design or freelance business. Unfortunately, most businesses donʼt utilize their contacts: 73% of leads are never contacted. What about you? Do you follow up with potential clients, or wait for them to contact you? Do you have a system in place for following up and managing the contacts you DO make? In the next few pages youʼll learn how to turn your contacts into contracts. Weʼll cover ways to find contacts and give you some pointers on how to organize the ones you have. Weʼll talk about some actions you can take in order to turn them into viable business opportunities. Because in the end itʼsnot about how many contacts you have, but how many become good customers. 1

3 Contents: Preparing for Contacts 4 Business Cards 4 Website 7 Attitude 8 Where Do You Get Contacts? 9 Philosophy 9 Practical Ideas: Get To It 10 What Do You Do With Contacts? 14 Reach Out 14 Follow Up 15 Tools 17 Bonus: Top 10 Ways to Find New Clients 19 2

4 There is no royal flower-strewn path to success. And if there is, I have not found it, for if I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard. Madam C.J. Walker, first woman millionaire entrepreneur 3

5 Preparing for Contacts Foundation for Contact Before we can dive into getting contacts, you need to be ready for them. Thereʼs some prep work to do. If you donʼt build a solid foundation to make the most of your contacts, then youʼll be wasting your effort. There are a few smart things you can do to prepare that foundation: Business Cards The age old business card is still key. Itʼs something tangible you can pass out. It makes it easy for people to remember who you are. It paves the way for future contact. Trading business cards greases the wheels of that first interaction. Bonus: Loads of places collect business cards in a fish bowl for random drawings for free goods. Theyʼre only trying to solicit you, but hey, free stuff! Plus you can always turn the tables and make your own pitch. People have their own process for handling contacts and it almost always includes business cards. If you donʼt fit in their process, youʼll be forgotten. Tip: Make sure you have plenty of business cards on you at all times. There s nothing worse than running out of cards or not having any at all. Your Name Here Since weʼre focusing on personal contact, your name should be the most important (and therefore biggest) thing on your card. Your company name is secondary. People form a relationship with you, not your company. So unless you work for Apple or some other major company that has a name that will open doors for you, make your name the biggest thing on your card. Itʼs not about ego, itʼs about connecting with you. You need them to remember your name more than anything. So make it big. 4

6 Contact Info Next you need the appropriate information on your card. Thereʼs a temptation to load up your card with every form of contact information possible but thatʼs not helpful. Put the most important details and leave the rest off. Think about your idea clients. What are the most common ways theyʼll use to contact you? Make sure you include that information on your card. Unless a local address is important to you, people probably donʼt need your mailing address. Tip: Set up a Google voice number that will forward people to your preferred phone, whether it s your cell phone, your business line or your home number. Some Other Business Card Elements You May Want to Consider: Funnel Statement Your business card should should help make it clear what you do and why the potential client needs you. This should be a short statement maybe 15 words or less that summarizes what you do. Itʼs more than a tagline but shorter than an elevator pitch. This is important so people will remember who you are and why they should follow up with you. Spend some time on this. Do some free writing with no word limits to get down exactly what you do. Then rewrite it in half as many words. Then do it again. Keep halving it until you get down to 15 words or less. Thatʼs your funnel statement. Slap it on your business cards. Even if you donʼt include it on your business card, itʼs an extremely helpful exercise to go t through to help YOU become crystal clear about what you do and who you work with. Include an Offer Consider adding some sort of extra offer to your business card. Include something that will intrigue people and make them check out your website or drop you a line. Maybe you have a free ebook available on your site pitch it on your business card. Maybe itʼs some kind of deal like 10% off. Maybe itʼs a free site evaluation or SEO check something of value thatʼs simple for you to provide. Itʼs an opportunity to do a little more and give people that extra reason to hang on to your card. 5

7 Blank Space Finally, include some blank space on your cards. Some experts recommend leaving the entire back of your business card empty (while others might say to put your funnel statement here). Leaving the back blank gives people room to write on your business card. A lot of people use this strategy to take notes or jot down extra details they want to remember. You want to encourage a contact to do that if they want to write something down about you then theyʼre be more likely to become a customer. You should encourage that behavior! Blank space on your cards also gives you an opportunity. It always happens at events that someone forgets their cards or runs out. You can step in with our own card and ask them to write their information down for you on the back of your card. That way you still get their information and you come across as the hero. 6

8 Website In addition to your business cards, the other thing you must have is a website. You need to own your brand and be able to send people somewhere that will do a solid job of converting them. Make sure your website does three things: 1." Tells people what you do. 2." Tells them why that should matter to them (answers the Whatʼs in it for me? question). 3." Gives people a way to contact you. Itʼs incredibly basic stuff, but youʼd be surprised how often people donʼt do it. Just like your business card, make sure your site is including the appropriate contact info. If you donʼt want people calling you, donʼt list your phone number. If youʼd rather they fill out a form, add a contact form to your site asking for the exact information you want (though make sure itʼs a short form). A website is an opportunity to show people how professional you are and that youʼre in this for real. You donʼt want some joke of a website hosted on a two-bit, cookie cutter provider. You also donʼt want your site riddled with typos or broken links. Show your contacts how seriously you take your job and their business by taking your website seriously. Tip: It can be hard to stand out online. Make sure your website has that extra something so you stand out. It doesn t have to be complicated or involved, but take the time to be more than just another site. 7

9 Attitude The final thing you need to prepare is yourself. If you want to make contacts and turn them into customers, you need to have the right attitude. Like-ability is important. People want to work with people they like. People donʼt want to work with jerks. Be nice: Donʼt whine or complain. Be personable: Ask about others and donʼt just talk about yourself. Listen: Donʼt interrupt, donʼt talk too much. Be polite: Donʼt badmouth other people. Be positive and inspiring: Encourage other peopleʼs ideas and inspire them to do more. Be confident: Other people will only think youʼre worth hiring if YOU think youʼre worth hiring. Yes, this is basic stuff you probably learned in kindergarten. But itʼs amazing how quickly you can turn people off with a lousy attitude. Donʼt lose contacts by being a Grinch or coming across as wimpy or insecure. Honor Your Contacts When you meet new people, show them respect by listening intently and showing them that you care. Donʼt be disinterested or aloof. When they hand you their business card, read it. Nod, smile, write something on it. Take care of their card donʼt just shove it in your pocket. Treating someoneʼs business card with care shows that youʼll treat them with care. Tip: Instead of trying to sell people, do something for them. If you re talking with someone and they mention a need, find a way to meet it. Maybe you can recommend a designer for them or you know someone perfect for the job opening they re trying to fill. Pass it on! They ll be grateful and very likely to return the favor. 8

10 Where do you get contacts? Philosophy Contacts donʼt just fall into your lap. You have to work to get them. But we have a few ideas and ways to think about soliciting contacts that will make it seem less like work and more like everyday life. No Cold Calls Nobody likes making cold calls and nobody likes getting them. Itʼs a low return approach and itʼs demoralizing. Donʼt do it. Thereʼs a better approach thatʼs more natural, more effective and more personal. Itʼs called being human. Building a personal relationship with somebody is the best way to form a contact and then turn that contact into a client. This entire approach is based on the idea that people want to do business with people they know and trust. They want a relationship, not a stiff stranger cold calling. So what do you do? You meet people. You talk. You get to know them. You form an actual relationship. Then when you ask for their business, itʼs no longer a cold call. Or better yet, they are asking you to let them hire you. Tip: This may be overwhelming news for the introverts out there, but there are some easy ways to get out there that don t require the superpowers of an extrovert. But if being an introvert is holding you back, try pushing the boundaries a little bit at a time. Go to a networking event and try to meet just two people the people sitting on either side of you. That should be manageable for any introvert. Go at a pace that s right for you, but if your current pace hasn t created a waiting list of clients, then you ll want to stretch yourself a little. Quantity vs. Quality As youʼre trying to develop contacts what you really want is quality. This isnʼt the quantity game of cold calling. Itʼs better to walk away with two or three people you really connected with than a dozen business cards of people who wonʼt remember you. Take the time to invest in people. It will pay off. That said, quantity still has its place. You canʼt rely on two or three quality contacts to turn into business and keep you afloat. Typically a small percentage of your contacts will turn into paying gigs, so you need a lot of contacts. 9

11 Focus on getting a few quality contacts every day, and eventually youʼll have the quantity you need. It is a bit of a numbers game, but if youʼre clear on the kind of people you want to work with and make a point of building connections with those sorts of people, it will be much easier. Nobody said you canʼt have both quality and quantity. Practical Ideas: Get To It In order to get contacts you need to get out there. Itʼs tough to meet new people if you stay in your office all day. Hiding behind your computer is not an effective relationship building strategy. And, while showing off the stellar websites youʼve designed is one way of marketing your business, you need to spend as much time working ON your business as working IN your business. Free Training A great way to meet people is to create your own opportunities. Offer free training classes through local libraries, business networks, community education, churches, etc. Do a simple training on how to blog or how to set up a WordPress site. Depending on the location and the set up, offer a 45-minute training and then give a five-minute pitch at the end for your services. Lawyers, realtors and insurance agents have been doing this for years, and you can too. Make up flyers about the class and hang them wherever you can, from community bulletin boards to the coffee shop. Be sure any promotion you do for the class includes your website. Offer a handout that includes an outline of your course and your website. Stay after to answer questions and engage with people. Have plenty of business cards on hand and pass them out. While your primary audience here is the people who show up for the class, you can also reach people who see your class advertised and people referred by someone who attended your class. Donʼt underestimate the Grandma who seems like an unlikely WordPress student. Even if sheʼs slow to catch on, she may know people in need of your services and be more than happy to recommend you. Tip: Libraries are ideal for free training. Offer your classes in the evening to be more accommodating to business owners. Foursquare The location-based service Foursquare can be a goldmine for finding contacts. Open up Foursquare on your phone and search for local stores and businesses near you. You might find businesses within walking distance that you didn t even know were there. Do a little research on their needs. Check out their profile on Foursquare, visit their website, Google them figure out what you might be able to offer. Then take a walk and introduce yourself. Small businesses like to work with local businesses and thereʼs no better pitch than offering to fill a need. 10

12 Tip: While you re at it on Foursquare, you should also make sure your business is listed so other folks can find you. Local Business Events There are tons of local networking opportunities, from casual meetups to organized conferences to hanging out in the local coffee shop where other business people and freelancers hang out. Attend a few in your area and get to know people. The great thing about going to actual networking events is that people attend specifically to meet people. So itʼs not awkward when you pull out your business card or walk up to a stranger and introduce yourself. There are tons of different events, but here are a few places to start: Local Chamber of Commerce: See what kind of events they host or sponsor Local associations: What events or conferences do they host? Search Tweetup and your city to find local social media gatherings. WordCamp Social Media Breakfast Tip: If you re especially nervous, go with a friend. Together you can tag team it and you won t have to stand around alone. Friends & Family Networking with friends and extended family can lead to greater opportunities. In many cases the contact may not be your cousin, but your cousinʼs boss (and it may just be your cousin after all, so donʼt overlook any opportunity). An easy way to start with your family and friends is to be proactive about your services: Your sister mentions a side project knitting and selling scarves. You could recommend developing a website that allows people to preorder. A friend announces that theyʼre starting the adoption process. You could encourage them to start a blog to record the process and share the journey with family and friends. Your brother-in-law coaches little league. Suggest he launch a team website with practice times, location and other information parents will want. But as you begin working with family and friends be careful! You should always charge something so your family and friends understand the value of your work. Sure, give them a huge discount, but still charge them something. Youʼll save yourself headaches when a free project gets out of hand. These projects may not be huge moneymakers for you, but they will powerfully demonstrate your skills to your family and friends. In turn, theyʼll start talking up your skills and recommending you to people youʼd otherwise never meet. It also helps build up your portfolio to show to other contacts. 11

13 Tip: Add a specialized footer to each site you build that points back to your site. Enable the contacts to come to you. Job Boards The Internet is full of job boards with people looking for the skills you can offer. Browse through some listings and you might find your next gig. While these listings generally cater to one-off jobs, each one is an opportunity to form a relationship and build a lasting client and referrals for more business. Some of these listings will be flooded with low-ball offers, so watch out for jobs that just arenʼt worth your time or competing with someone working for much less than they should be (often high school students or overseas workshops). General Tech Boards In some cases you may need to search for WordPress or other keywords to narrow the results to something relevant. jobs.smashingmagazine.com authenticjobs.com getacoder.com krop.com odesk.com simplyhired.com WordPress Specific Boards These sites specializing in WordPress will offer even more specific listings. Customyze.me wphired.com jobs.wordpress.net wordpressfreelance.com premium.wpmudev.org/wpmu-jobs jobs.woothemes.com Other Boards & Sites WPCandy.com/pros Their professional listing section might be a good place to set up a profile. Facebook In general, Facebook is not a good place to solicit business. Itʼs personal. However, it never hurts to be on the lookout for potential openings. If someone mentions they need help or you can suggest a solution in 12

14 context, you just might be able to find a contact. But donʼt be pushy people arenʼt expecting a sales pitch on Facebook and will be quickly turned off. LinkedIn - Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn is the social network designed for business. This can be a good place to form connections, do some research and keep track of your contacts. Itʼs also a very good place to ask people to introduce you to new contacts. Itʼs easy to be anonymous and impersonal on LinkedIn, so be sure to personalize any interactions you have. Craigslist This oneʼs a crapshoot, but some people have had success. You can post a job profile, search the job listings or be a little sneaky browse through the services section and look at websites that could use some help. You can find some more tips for finding freelance jobs on Craigslist here ( Current Clients Your current clients are also a great source of contacts. You have got two options here: 1. Referrals - Encourage your current clients to refer new business. An easy way to do this is to offer a reward for a paying referral. Maybe you give a discount on the next job or offer something fun, like a new ipod. Youʼll make back the cost of the ipod on the new client, and if they stick around long enough youʼll make it back ten times over. 2. Repeats Customers - Once a client is your client donʼt lose them. You put a lot of work into getting them as a client, so donʼt let them go. Any contact you can keep is one fewer you need to get. Stay engaged with your clients to encourage repeat business. Follow their blogs and updates so you can be proactive and make suggestions to help their business grow. Tip: Most successful freelancers will tell you that the bulk of their business comes from referrals. Do good work and stay in touch with your clients (so you remain at the top of their mind) and your chances of doing well go up astronomically. (But if you have a horrible client, it is OK to fire them. Chances are you wouldn t want to work with any of their referrals anyway.) 13

15 What Do You Do With Contacts? Now that you have contacts, what do you do with them? How do you go about turning them into contracts? Hereʼs where it helps to remember that itʼs all about relationships. Build relationships with your contacts. Get to know them and let them get to know you. In time, opportunities will reveal themselves naturally. Itʼs personal relationships that will turn your contacts into contracts. Here are a few ways you can help the process develop: Reach Out First and foremost, you need to take the lead and make the effort. Youʼre the one looking to do more with your contacts. You canʼt wait around for them to call you, because they wonʼt. Research Start with research. In order to make a connection with a contact, you need to know who they are. Understand their business. Figure out what they do, who their audience is, how they make their money. Check out their website. Notice where itʼs hosted, who built it and how itʼs maintained. Howʼs the SEO? What could you improve? Google the company. Where do they show up in results. Are they in the news? Are they using social media? Follow! Subscribe to blogs, newsletters and anything else they offer so you can know what theyʼre up to. Tip: Research a contact s industry as well. A few talking points might help you out in a conversation. Note that the goal isn t to be a know it all this contact is surely an expert in their own industry, but you want to be informed and engaged. A little knowledge goes a long way. Itʼs All About Context You have to offer the right thing at the right time. Thatʼs why you did your research. If a contact doesnʼt need Ecommerce, donʼt talk about it. If a contact doesnʼt do local, then pitching the benefits of 14

16 Foursquare is going to be a waste. Make sure what youʼre talking about is relevant to the contact youʼre talking to. That brings us to an obvious conclusion: Every pitch you make is going to be different. Each one should be catered to the specific contact, taking into account their needs, their industry, their approach. You need to customize your pitch so you can maximize its effectiveness. Thatʼs why youʼre taking all this time to get to know contacts first so you can build a solid relationship in order to make the pitch, but then when you make it youʼre not shooting in the dark. Youʼve learned enough about what they need to properly pitch exactly what they need. Tip: Remember that who you re talking to is important. Your contact may not be the decision maker but don t pass them up, because they likely have influence with the decision maker. Likewise keep in mind how different pitches may appeal to different departments. The purchasing department might want to save money but the sales staff is only interested in SEO. Ask, Ask, Ask! Finally, you need to ask for their business. This is where people fail to convert contacts into clients. They never ask. If you donʼt ask for their business, youʼll never turn a contact into a contract. Just remember that youʼve been doing all the groundwork to build a relationship, learn what their company needs and tailor your pitch. Your ask isnʼt coming out of left field and by now it should be highly targeted. This is no longer a cold call, youʼre a trusted contact. Tip: People in business are direct. They don t have time for vagueness and they want to deal with direct people. Being direct and asking for their business isn t pushy, it shows that you value their time enough to get to the point. So go ahead and be direct. Follow Up Now that you have contacts and youʼve made the pitch, itʼs time to follow up. Under Promise & Over Deliver If you score the contract, congratulations! Now itʼs time to deliver. To really impress your new client you need to under promise and over deliver. That strategy will make sure your new client becomes a repeat client, and that your new client talks you up, bringing in more contacts you can convert to more new contracts. A major way to under promise and over deliver is to do extra work. Maybe your services cover four clearly defined deliverables, but you actually provide five. You donʼt have to give away the kitchen sink, but just throw in some extra value. Maybe you do some extra SEO work or deliver a backup copy of your work on CD. Maybe you beat the deadline by a week. Find some way to go above and beyond the call of duty. Youʼll be glad you did. 15

17 Thank You One of the most important things you can do is say thank you to your new contact turned client. Send them a hand-written note. It will only cost you a ew minutes and a stamp, but it will leave a much greater impression. Tip: If your hand writing is terrible (and let s be honest, that s true for many of us) find another way to make thank you notes work. Maybe it s a pre-printed, semi-generic card for your company and you just write thank you and sign it. That s still personal and will make an impression. The point is to do something. No Is OK If you made the pitch and your contact said no, donʼt fret. Itʼs not the end of the world. You still have them as a contact and you can live to pitch another day. They may have said no for any number of reasons that have nothing to do with you. Maybe they canʼt afford to do the work right now, maybe they already have someone else in mind or maybe itʼs just not the right time. But theyʼre still a contact and a ʻnoʼ today doesnʼt mean ʻnoʼ forever. Continue to build a relationship with them and stay in touch. You could still land a contract down the road, so donʼt give up. 16

18 Tools There are lots of tools and resources you can use to help you manage your contacts. Weʼll cover a few to help you get started: Zoho ( offers a customer relationship management tool thatʼs free for small companies. This could be a low budget way to do something with the power of Salesforce. Gmail Contacts are a little known and under-utilized tool. You can customize which fields you use and add notes to keep track of where youʼre at with contacts. David Seah offers some powerful productivity tools ( that are also free. Donʼt overlook a real, physical notebook. Just because you do webdevelopment doesnʼt mean you have to use a web-based tool. A tactile way to track your contacts might work better. You can literally paste business cards into a notebook and write notes right on the page. The bottom line is that you need to find a system that works for you. Tip: Use a tool that you can own and control. Something you can easily export and keep current with the times. There s nothing worse than hanging on to old software because you can t export your contacts, or worse an online shop closing up or changing the rules on you. 17

19 So what does it all mean? Bottom-line: you have to turn contacts into contracts if you want to stay in business. Working on your business is just as important as working in it. Try a variety of different strategies like the ones listed in this ebook with the goal of finding the ones that work well and are a match for your personal style. The most effective marketing is the kind you will actually do. 18

20 Bonus: Top 10 Ways to Find New Clients First Rule to Remember: OWN YOUR BRAND 10. Your OWN website This is a key element of finding new clients. You need to have a location you can refer potential clients to that has several key sections: You need to have a way for people to contact you. It could be an , a contact form they can fill out, a phone number (Google Voice is awesome). You need to tell people WHAT you can do. You need to tell people WHY they need Displaying the pricing is OPTIONAL. 9. Offer a free training class at the local library Don t miss out on the ability to reach out to your local community in a meaningful way. Most local libraries and community centers allow outside experts to provide training events. Offering a special training class puts you in front of potential clients, and once-removed clients. Here are some ideas: How to start your own blog (Teach them WordPress.com and then a short sales pitch of the benefit of having your own site and you can build it for them.) What is social media and how can it help your business Sharing photos online Five Steps to Improving your Current Website: 1. SEO 2. Better Images 3. Interactive 4. Dynamic Content 5. Easy Updates 19

21 8. FourSquare - Search for local businesses you may not know even exist. Did you know that by using FourSquare you can find business that might exist right next door to you and you didn t even know about them. And if you didn t know about them, who else doesn t know about them. This is a great pitch to give the company on why they should use your web development services. What to do: 1. Open up FourSquare on your phone 2. Click on Places and let Foursquare tell you about all the local stores/business/locations 3. Click on a location and then click on More Info to see if there is a web address. 4. If not, you can do a google search on the company name and their address to see if you can find their site. 5. If both of those don t work, you have a great pitch to the company/businesses about why they need your services. Small Businesses like to work with local businesses... so you should start researching other businesses around yours. 7. Family (extended) & Friends - Be proactive about things This can easily lead to greater opportunities... but BE CAREFUL. If you do things for free, it will probably cost more in the long run. Even if it is family and friends, CHARGE A FEE for your services. Even if you do it for really cheap, it will remind your friends and family that this is a business and not something they can take up all your time with. Listen to your family and friends about things they want to do, and when the opportunity arises... you can encourage them by selling into their vision. Examples: Friends are getting ready to adopt, so you suggest they keep an online journal with updates and photos to record the adoption journey for other friends and family members. A brother-in-law is going to be coaching a little league team. Suggest that he keep a special team website that has practice times, locations, and other information parents might want to know about. You sister is starting to knit scarfs. Suggest that she have a creative website where she can have people pre-order scarfs. And then link that site to her Etsy account. Each one of these sites you build will contain your specialized footer with information about how other people can get sites like this. And your friends and family will talk to their friends and family about your development studio. 20

22 6. Craigslist Roulette Wheel This is a hit or miss scenario. But its amazing that I have talked to some friends who have had really good luck with Craigslist. Step 1 - Make sure you post your job profile on Craigslist and have it link back to your site for people to contact you. Step 2 - Search through the job listings section. Step 3 - Search through the Services section and look at people s current websites General Tech job boards Here are several leading tech job boards for you to go search for solid leads. There areplenty of other job boards, but many times those other job boards are flooded with either little kids or a work-shop in Shanghai, China bidding on projects for $75. jobs.smashingmagazine.com/?search=wordpress krop.com q=&qt=wordpress,&vt_cmp=wordpress 4. WordPress specific job boards The above listed job boards dealt with all sorts of tech jobs. The following arespecialized job boards catering specifically to WordPress related projects. jobs.wordpress.net premium.wpmudev.org/wpmu-jobs jobs.woothemes.com wphired.com wordpressfreelance.com 21

23 3. Professional Listings - WPCandy.com/pros WPCandy is a great site for WordPress related news. They opened up the doors to be listed in their Professional listings. It s another great point-of-contact for your skills and talents. Three types of listings: A specialist - this is where you pick one or two skills that are not general skills and try and corner the market in that area. Examples: Widget Logic Expert, Pods Expert, BluBerry Podcasting Expert, WishList Expert A generalist - this is where you advertise yourself as an all-in-one type developer/designer. A generalist WITH a specialist - This is where you do everything with WordPress, but you specialize in cleaning up SEO... or migrating sites... etc. 2. Your Current Clients - Referrals and Bonuses Offer special discounts to your current clients if they refer new business. Be creative. Offer $250 off their next project if they refer a new client. Have a special deal that if a current client refers a new client, the current client gets a new Kindle. ($114) 1. Your Current Clients - Repeat Customers Once a client is your client, DON T lose them. You have already found them. Follow your clients news (newsletters, blog RSS). Stay involved and be proactive and ready to offer suggestion that will help their growth as a company. (Old link, but still useful info.) (another good list of practical ideas) 22

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